Ground 617,
which restores my “116” (everywhere in the top five divisions in England.
Context
I last saw
AFC Fylde three years ago in the level below, and I noted their organisation
and ambition back then. They are now
in their first season at the top “non-league” level. They find themselves in the lower reaches
of the table after eleven games, with a fair number of draws from reportedly
decent performances. Woking are
top-half and will be another stern test for the upwardly mobile Coasters.
In one sentence
Woking turned
up after half-time and scored two goals in quick succession to take the
points.
So what?
Fylde remain
20th, just above the drop-zone in a table which still has many,
many games to go. Woking climb to 6th
and are one of several teams sitting at one point off the lead.
Match Report
Two
well-organised sides of “big lads” largely cancelled each other out. There was very little time-on-the-ball for
anyone and a lot of playing channels and percentages. Woking struggled to come to terms with
Fylde’s aerial threat and Jordan Tunnicliffe headed them in front in the 18th
minute with a straightforward header from a set piece. Tony Pulis would have loved it. Woking never made the home keeper do any
serious work, and the away fans (somewhat noisier than the home ones it has
to be said) were beginning to get irritated at their team’s lack of bite as
half-time drew near. Fylde would have
been happy to reach the break one-nil up.
The equaliser
came after 53 minutes. It was both
spectacular and with an element of good fortune. Shortly after a softly-conceded corner, the
ball came out to Joe Ward. His volley
from distance took a deflection and then went in off the post. Jamie Philpot’s header from a left-wing
cross came just a minute later and the game was completely turned round.
Woking will
feel they coped well enough defensively as Fylde threw men forward. There were a couple of half-chances from
corners and other set pieces but in the end the visitors will be very happy
to be going home with the points.
AFC Fylde 1 Tunnicliffe 18
Woking 2 Ward
53, Philpot 54
Ground Pix
It is impressive. Has managed to
be a bit “different” whilst still being modern and functional. Early signs are that the growth and
development is being managed well and will be sustainable. The area already has old-but-troubled Blackpool, newish-kids Fleetwood and venerable old Preston North End so there is lots of local football interest. The club are already at the stage of the £3 full-colour glossy 52-page programme, seagull mascot and barcode-reader turnstiles. The playing surface was excellent. A bonus was a chance to say hello to
@nonleaguedogs of the Fylde faithful across the segregation gate. Great to meet you and thanks for the badge,
which will be worn with pride.
Match Pix
AFC Fylde in all white.
1-0. Left-wing corner reaches Tunnicliffe (5) at the far post.
See a pattern developing? Fylde a constant first-half threat from crosses and corners.
Nathan Baxter (Woking GK) is kept very busy in the last 15 minutes
Pre-Match Entertainment
It was a
Steam Day at the Ribble Steam Railway on the outskirts of Preston. Would have been rude not to. Steam locomotives are impressive things (says he as a theoretical chemist who avoided getting his hands wet if at all
possible). It was good to see some
other characters with obsessive hobbies and get a fix of nostalgia. My childhood coincided with the gradual
decline of steam in favour of diesel and electric. Recommended to all groundhoppers – it’s
about fifteen minutes from Mill Farm by car.
That's a Bagnall 0-6-0 from 1942, I tell you. Number 2680 "Courageous" to be specific.
Decent range of bottled beers for your short trip...
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Green loses
to Orange. Red still leads, orange in
6th closes gap on green in 5th. Full table update at the end of the month.
What Next?
Watch
@GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!
Next “landmark” hop will be a trip to Spennymoor Town, hopefully sometime
in October, to restore the “160” (everything in the top six English tiers).
Having
restored my 92 with last weekend’s trip to Rotherham, this was a trip to
restore my 116, needed because the home side have switched grounds this
season. For non-hopping readers, 116
is the number of teams in the Premier League, Championship, Leagues One and
Two and the Conference National all added together. In other words the top five tiers of
professional football in England.
Pre-match preparation
Newport
County won their first five league games, including all three at home, but have
lost the last two. They start the day
in third place. Stockport County are
16th and will be disappointed with that as a start to the season.
This match in one sentence
An undistinguished
match which could have gone either way, but was arguably a moral victory for
Stockport.
So what?
The teams
go to 4th and 15th places respectively.
The drama unfolds
Fair play
to the happy but overcharged (see below) band of Stockport supporters who
kept up some drum-assisted singing for most of the first twenty minutes of a
very ordinary game. Here’s a
scene-setter clip, Stockport are in blue.
This is a good playing surface considering the sharing with rugby
union.
Jefferson
Louis had two half-chances in quick succession to put Newport in front. A spin and left-foot shot was just wide,
then a missed clearance let him in for a right-footer that hit the base of
the post. To be fair, the keeper Ian
Ormson probably had it covered. His
opposite number in the Newport goal, Lennie Pidgeley, then came for a corner
and missed, but there were enough defenders back to block the shot. Pidgeley then had to make a decent save
from Sam Sheridan as Stockport finished the half strongly. This clip is just before the break. 0-0
at half-time
Defences
remained on top as the clock reached the hour mark. Either side looked as if they might score –
it wasn’t a terrible game, but both sides were playing well-organised and
well-drilled formula football, largely cancelling each other out. Here’s a clip from 63 minutes which shows
Newport hitting the bar, though it would not have counted because of the
offside flag. Play the clip twenty
times to see if you agree with the decision.
Ormson made
a good save and then another Newport tap-in was disallowed for a foul on him
as we approached the last few minutes still goal-less for the day. My final clips are with 11 and 5 minutes
left respectively.
Then in the
90th minute, Stockport substitute and new signing Alex Meaney
rattled the crossbar with Pidgeley beaten.
Unlucky. Final score 0-0
The programme
Something
random
I took this
picture on the way out …
… the
reason being that I noticed that several Stockport supporters were unhappy
about the “on-the-day” price hike to £17.
After a complaint, a word-of-mouth message spread that if you took
your ticket to a certain steward near the gate you would get a £2
refund. There was no tannoy
announcement. At half-time the steward
ran out of coins in his pocket and went off to get more. He did not reappear before the start of the
second half, and was not there at the end.
Very unusual, and not very classy.
I hope Newport put my £2 towards a book on public relations for
dummies.
Hopping for Moorfields Update
This is the
first 0-0 draw of the season, which is not too bad as I have some sponsors
who are specifically covering this eventuality.
What Next?
Hoping for
a midweek FA Cup replay, and then hoping that Truro City still exist next
Saturday. (They have significant
financial issues as a club at the moment.)
They play at the last current step 2 ground I have yet to visit, so I
very much hope to see them play Bromley in the Conference South to complete
my 160 for the first time. That is, if I "allow" Whaddon Road, Cheltenham to count for Gloucester City who are groundsharing there as tenants at the moment. The Modus Hopper Random Rules Committee (i.e. me) will make a ruling this week.
Scotland
(St Mirren, Glasgow Celtic) and Wales (Bala Town, Aberystwyth Town)
Here are fifteen shades of Graham for the 2011-12 season. No, I am not doing fifty. No, I haven't read it, but I am with the zeitgeist innit. Enjoy.
1
Corby Press On
Corby Town 6 Bishop’s Stortford 1
17
August 2011 (Conference North)
Reason Chosen:
This was
the first competitive game at Corby’s new stadium.
What’s Happened Since?
Bishop’s
Stortford’s manager Ian Walker, or former England goalkeeper Ian Walker,
and/or son of former Norwich City manager Mike Walker (depending on which
paper you read) left the club by mutual consent (although again that depended
on which paper etc etc) in December.
The club had been placed in the Conference North (where they will be
staying again, it would appear) at a very late stage and player recruitment
had been tough. They recovered to
finish a creditable tenth. Meanwhile,
Corby Town have been through a takeover – they finished 17th and
have just appointed former Northampton Town boss Ian Sampson as manager for
next season.
Completing
a personal-best run of six FA Cup ties and replays in consecutive days,
publishing the world’s first footage of the International Space Station
passing over an FA Cup match, and a magnificent game which included an
outfield player saving a penalty with his first touch as a stand-in
goalkeeper.
What’s Happened Since?
Gornal
Athletic went out with credit at Kidsgrove in the next round. I was there, making a contribution to the
season’s record for therealfacup. In
the league, these two served up a 4-5 in December as Gornal won their league
with a game to spare. They move up to
the step 5 Alliance Midland League next season. Shifnal Town finished in lower-mid table.
Non-league
venues at their best – great clubhouse, wind-assisted goals, a cricket boundary line across
the pitch and cows in the adjacent field chasing after a wayward ball.
What’s Happened Since?
Wokingham
& Emmbrook won the replay 2-0 but lost at Winslow United in the next
round. Both teams had mid-table
finishes in their respective Hellenic leagues.
Match-of-the-season
for me. A gripping cup-tie played in
abysmal weather conditions and a credit to everyone concerned.
What’s Happened Since?
Needham
Market were beaten at home by Nuneaton Town in the next round. In their leagues, both teams had promotion
near-misses. Ely City finished
runners-up behind Wroxham in the Eastern Counties League. Needham Market reached the play-offs
(again) but lost out to Enfield Town in the final.
A chance to
watch from the oldest stand in continuous use – the main stand at the
Wellesley dates from 1892 – and an example of the randomness that often
decides my hopping life. I was here
because the New Zealand All Blacks had scored exactly 37 points in their
Rugby Union World Cup win over France.
What’s Happened Since?
Great
Yarmouth did not win another league game until the last day of the season and
they will drop to step 6 next year.
Their AGM on 11 June may be “interesting” as they say in the
diplomatic corps. The club are
advertising a number of positions ranging from Treasurer to bus driver. Felixstowe & Walton finished just above
the relegation zone.
A trip to
Brighton’s impressive new home was needed to keep my current lists of 92
(Premier League, Championship, Leagues One & Two) and 116 (same plus
Conference National) up to date.
What’s Happened Since?
Hull City
finished 8th and Brighton 10th. As I write, the vacant managerial post at
the former is being offered to Steve Bruce.
By far the
biggest crowd of the season, the biggest stadium and the highest-ranked
club. Hard not to ignore all that
history and feel the pressure, expectation and edge that goes with it.
What’s Happened Since?
Celtic duly
won the title in a season dominated by off-field issues at their city rivals
Rangers. Hibernian escaped relegation
by one place and reached the Scottish FA Cup Final where they were thumped by
their city rivals, Hearts.
3
December 2011 (English Premier League Ice Hockey)
Reason Chosen:
The blog’s
first diversion into the crazy world of grown men with sticks trying to kill
each other on ice. Many thanks to the
MK Lightning tweeters who picked up the blogpost and reacted with good humour,
making this the second most-viewed post of the season.
What’s Happened Since?
I am now up
to six on the rinkhopping list and the Northern Hemisphere Net Coriolis Force
Zamboni Clockwise Rotation Theory remains intact. MK made the playoffs but lost out to Slough Jets.
An
impressive crowd of 1040 for a 1st v 2nd clash in step
5.
What’s Happened Since?
It seemed
at the time that King’s Lynn had got a grip on the division after this result. They were 12 points ahead on Easter Monday
but Long Buckby reeled them in with games in hand, and beat them 2-1 at home
with two games to go. When King’s Lynn
could only then draw at home to Desborough Town, Long Buckby made no mistake
and won the league. However, there is
a happy ending. King’s Lynn’s record,
with 106 points, gets them a promotion after all from the step 5 pool and
they join the Northern Premier League Division One South next season. Holbeach were overtaken by teams with games
in hand and finished sixth.
My
first-ever diversion into the world of top-tier netball.
What’s Happened Since?
Both teams
made the mid-season split into the top half.
Storm had been second, just behind Northern Thunder. However, Storm beat Thunder home-and-away
in winning all six post-split matches.
These two ended up facing each other in the grand final after
relatively easy playoff semi-final wins.
Mavericks lost to Thunder to go out at that stage. Thunder won the grand final by 2 points.
Not the
first blog diversion into courthopping, in which I have pre-blogging
“previous” at any rate, but the most dramatic. A buzzer-beating three-pointer from Adrien Sturt, captured on film, sealed a magnificent road win for the Lions.
What’s Happened Since?
Lions’
season rather ebbed away and they finished outside the playoff positions, a
big disappointment for them. Riders
finished strongly, finished the regular season as runners-up and made it all the way through to the
play-off final where they lost to Newcastle Eagles.
The first
game, a 1-1 draw, had suggested there could be dramatic unfinished
business. The blogpost includes the world’s first simultaneous video coverage of Venus, Uranus, the Moon and
a goal.
What’s Happened Since?
After all
that, Gresley were thumped at St Ives in the next round. Both teams, however, can look forward to
step 4 as they ended the season as champions in their respective leagues.
Having been
sent on this journey by the roll of a die, this turned out to be a day
dominated by hospitality and hospital.
Under normal circumstances, the teabar notice about Bovril supply
would have been enough for a day. I
had not expected to witness Whitley Bay’s first defeat in this competition in
four seasons, but the drama was astonishing.
I had footage of a controversial tackle that was over half-an-hour
earlier than the consequent red card, delivered when the ambulance had left
the pitch. The three goals in the game
were late, later and unbelievably late.
This became the most viewed Modus Hopper Random Blogpost of all time.
What’s Happened Since?
I
originally published the post with Howayday in the title, but was saved from
further embarrassment by prompt instruction in north-eastern vowels by
several friendly correspondents. There
really should be a local version of Pygmalion, if you ask me. (e.g “the rain in the Tyne falls mainly
down the drain”) In following rounds, West
Auckland disposed of Bournemouth Poppies and Herne Bay to reach the final at
Wembley, where they were runners-up to Dunston UTS. In their very competitive league, West
Auckland also finished second (to Spennymoor Town) and Whitley Bay ended up
sixth.
Nearly got into the fifteen (you can pick these from the tag cloud on the right):
Non-League Day 2011 at Stourport Swifts
Good wins for Witham Town (in the league) and AFC Totton (in the FA Cup)
Freezing all known appendages at Curzon Ashton
My Three-Hop Deluxe Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape
The mathematics of Staveley's run of home ties in the FA Vase
The goalkeeper at the end of a rainbow at Dronfield Town
The worst ground I have ever visited - sorry, Bletchley Town, it's you
The location of Colwyn Bay's ground and a goal by Frank Sinclair
The Vosper Thornycroft Pigeon Club hut at Sholing FC
Theale's celebrations in winning the Reading Senior League
Thank you for all the interest and
encouragement. I hope to cross paths
with more readers next season, randomness allowing, as I seek to get all the current
grounds down to Step Three added to my lifetime list. I will also pay plenty of attention to the
early rounds of the FA Cup. Have a good
summer, and look out for the occasional diversion on here!
